The present invention relates to guidance apparatus and more particularly to such guidance apparatus for advancing limp material such as cloth or the like relative to a reference point, such as the needle of a sewing machine. More particularly, the present invention relates to the guidance apparatus for a sewing machine of the type which permits a so-called overedge stitches. Briefly, the sewing machine for overedge stitches is designed such that the needle is disposed next to the body of the sewing machine. The sewing machine of the type described is provided with a cutter and is sometimes referred to as a "lock sewing machine" in the industrial field. This type of machine is used primarily for sewing edges of limp materials such as cloth after the edges are cut down to remove excess cloth.
The thus designed sewing machine creates substantial difficulty in providing guidance apparatus for automatically guiding or advancing the cloth as the cloth is fed into the sewing machine for overedge stitching. Further, it is desirable to have a guiding apparatus which can be released so that cloth held by the guiding apparatus which has been completed with desired stitching may be removed from the working area of the machine. Additionally, the guiding apparatus will preferably be housed or nested in a suitable location on the machine so that it will not interfere with the sewing operation.